Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission Tuesday reiterated that the J&K Combined Competitive (Mains) Examination, 2021 will be held in fair and transparent manner from 8th April, 2022 as per date-sheet already notified in this regard.
Countered the information being shared on social media as well as press statements issued by a number of political parties, seeking rescheduling of J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination, the PSC in a detailed handout clarified its position with regard to conduct of said exam.
The handout says that in the preliminary exam held on October 24, 2021, around 20,790 candidates appeared in the examination, results of which were declared on November 13, 2021, and 4,545 candidates were declared eligible for appearing in Main examination.
It said the first public notice issued on 13th November indicating first fortnight of February, 2022 as the likely date of start of mains examinations; second notification inviting applications for mains was issued on 26th November indicating date of exam commencement as 14th February, 2022.
In view the onset of 3rd wave of COVID-19 and conduct of Indian Forest Service Examination, 8th March, 2022 was fixed for commencement of J&K Combined Competitive (Main) examination, 2021.
However, this was revised to 10th March so as to facilitate candidates appearing in the IFoS examination by issuing a notification dated 22nd February.
J&K PSC further said that few unqualified candidates approached High Court on Feb 21, 2022 and obtained interim orders which were contested by the PSC.
Due to these interim orders certain contingencies arose and resultantly exam had to be postponed on 9th March till further notice.
The High Court reserved the Judgment on 16th March, 2022 and the same was announced on April 01, 2022 and a public notice (date-sheet) was issued on April 01, 2022 itself for conduct of J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination from 8th April, 2022 – 17 April 2022.
“Attempts have been made to mislead the general public with reference to rule 32 of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (Business Rules & Procedure) Rules, 2021 claiming that the rule envisages an intimation period of at least one month before commencement of examination.
“To put things in perspective, it is important to refer to rules 26 (Receipt of Applications), 27 (Scrutiny of Applications), 28 (Determination of Eligibility) and 29 (Appellate Authority) of said rules before conclusions are made since rule 32 is to be read conjointly with the aforementioned rules and is not to be read in isolation,” PSC handout said.
“To make things even clearer, it is vehemently reiterated that rule 32 is relevant only when a fresh notification for recruitment is issued and in the present case the chronology of dates makes it amply clear that since the issuance of first notice on 13th November, 2021 almost 145 number of days have passed and for the candidates to claim that sufficient notice has not been provided is nothing but a mischievous attempt to mislead and cast aspersions on the fairness of the process adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission,” the handout said.
It said the Commission makes it clear that it is making every effort to conduct the J&K Combined Competitive (Mains) Examination, 2021 in a fair and transparent manner and the same shall be held from 8th April, 2022 as per date sheet already notified in this regard.
